"Senior al-Qaida leaders through a password protected Internet message board periodically ask their loyal readers to send in their best ideas for attacking their enemies," reports National Defense, quoting recent remarks by Rita Katz, of the SITE Institute. Katz claims Al Qaeda gets "thousands" of responses.

“Basically they are using all the jihadists throughout the world as their eyes,” said Katz. The request called for members to look for vulnerabilities in U.S. government facilities or for targets “anywhere in the world,” she said.

This shows that terrorist groups are not lacking for ideas when it comes to cooking up deadly plots, but Katz warned that it’s important to distinguish “chatter” from real threats.

What next? A DARPA for terrorists? A prize for the most innovative terrorist idea?